Monday, January 27, 2014

Scraps of Evidence

MY THOUGHTS: I have really enjoyed the Quilts of Love series. Each book stands alone and has the story of a quilt intricately woven into the action. However, I was greatly disappointed with Scraps of Evidence.The story line is great -- it is a dangerous mystery story that must be solved by newly promoted detective Tess and her partner who just moved to town, Logan. My disappointment lies in the way this story doesn't hang together. There were at least five times as I read that I had to backtrack to earlier pages to clarify something.

SPOILER ALERT: Several parts of the story seem inconsistent (e.g. it seems that Tess and her friend Samantha are dating twins at the prom, when later it turns out that Samantha was apparently with someone else, and Tess and her partner apparently visit a shrimp shack 'for the first time' twice). In addition, some scenes, like potential food poisoning on the boat, could be linked into the story strategically but just fall flat and never get resolved. I guess the other part that really bothered me wasn't related to the editing or writing style, but is just an issue I have with police stories in general. Do male/female partners REALLY have to fall in love? I believe most mixed partners work very professionally together and don't fall into romantic relationships as easily as these two did. I would have preferred if the romance occurred elsewhere in the force or even outside of it -- we do a disservice to our police forces when books continue to romanticize this relationship, and female officers have a difficult enough time dealing with this perception of always being romantically inclined.

All that said, I'll definitely be looking forward to the next book in this series and hope that it is more like the others!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A Word from the author:

CBD, CBA, and ECPA bestselling author of 35 books (including new series upcoming for Abingdon Press in 2011/2012) including fiction and non-fiction books for Abingdon Press, Thomas Nelson, Harlequin, and other publishers.

I sold three films to HBO/Cinemax and am the first winner of the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award.

My two novellas won the 2nd and 3rd place in the Inspirational Readers Choice Contest from the Faith, Love, and Hope chapter of RWA. Both were finalists for the novella category of the Carol Award of the American Christian Writers Award (ACFW).

ABOUT THE BOOK

Tess has taken some ribbing from her fellow officer, Logan, for her quilting hobby. He finds it hard to align the brisk professional officer he patrols with during the day with the one who quilts in her off-time. Besides, he’s been trying to get to know her better and he’d like to be seeing her during those few nights a week she spends with her quilting guild. Then one afternoon Tess and Logan visit her aunt in the nursing home, and the woman acts agitated when Tess covers her with the story quilt. Aunt Susan is attempting to communicate a message to them about Tess’s uncle. There’s a story behind this quilt, they realize, one that may lead them to a serial killer. Will they have a chance to have a future together, or will the killer choose Tess for his next victim before they find him?